Nov. 1, 2007
Leaving Party Politics at the Courthouse Steps
What happens when the ideal of an impartial judiciary collides with the rough-and-tumble world of partisan politics?
Chris Heagarty and Damon Circosta of the N.C. Center for Voter Education take a look.
Attacks Ads in Partisan Judicial Elections
The QuickTime video above is a sample of the attacks ads, paid for by political parties, seen in states where judges are elected on a partisan basis.
The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania recently issued a study on the effect of partisan elections upon public opinion about the judicial system.
The findings conclude that Americans who live in states that hold partisan judicial elections are more cynical toward the courts than Americans who live in states that do not hold partisan judicial elections.
In 2002, North Carolina made all of its judicial races nonpartisan as part of the Judicial Campaign Reform Act.
Learn More:
Read Chris Heagarty's column on how North Carolina has tried to remove partisan politics from judicial elections.
Read the study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania on the impact of partisan judicial elections on the public's opinion of the judiciary.
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